Friday, January 30, 2015

Noah Hawley's Fargo: In the Shadow of Das Nichtige

A few episodes into Noah Hawley's Fargo, last year's TV reimagining of the Coen brothers' film, my worry was that the show's thematic upshot
would be that either there is no grain of the universe (that there is, is a therapeutic fiction we use to get by) or that the grain
of the universe is arbitrary predation (as personified by Billy Bob Thornton's character). Happily, that turned out not to
be the case. Rather, in a world beset by mysterious chance and
arbitrary predation, the grain of the universe is neighborly decency:
violence and murder are the elemental chaos against which
civilization—families, police departments, diners—prevail in the harsh
north simply in virtue of their continuing to exist, of still standing
in the morning after the blizzard. He is a fool who, like Lester
Nygaard, mistakes the appeal of chaos's temporary success for the
long-term stability of common goodness.

To be sure, to live in Fargo, North Dakota, is to live on the outskirts of civilization, and so to court the abyss—to live in the shadow of Das Nichtige. But so long as ordinary people resist its appeal, it won't win the day; ever looming, it won't, because it can't, finally swallow them up. Their neighborliness is unconquerable.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Mi Yodea?

Mi yodea? is the question the King of Nineveh asks in Jonah 3:9: "Who knows?" Jonah announces the impending destruction of Nineveh, but the King calls his people to repentance, resting his hope on the open possibility that God may be moved to mercy and forgiveness. And, as it happens, God is.

So that is the overarching question for us as we practice theology: Who knows? Who knows what God is doing, or what God has in store? The God revealed in Israel and in Jesus of Nazareth is a God of surprises, one who is doing a new thing. Such a God we will find at work in the most unlikely of places; may we, then, be fellow explorers and sojourners on the way.

About Me

I teach theology at Abilene Christian University. I'm interested in Scripture, theological interpretation, ecclesiology, the Trinity, and nonviolence. In an alternate universe I am a film critic while sidelining as an NBA analyst. Put those together, you've got this blog. Follow me on Twitter @eastbrad.